Road sign



y 3, 1951 I T. H. R. EMMERSON 2,558,944

ROAD SI-GN Filed Sept. 19, 1945 Patented July 3, 1951 ROAD SIGN Thomas Herbert Ridley Emmerson, Gerrards Cross, England Application September 19, 1945, Serial No. 617,231 In Great Britain August 23, 1945 1 Claim. 1.

The present invention relates to an improved road sign.

It is an object of the invention to provide a road sign which can be quickly brought into use, or moved from place to place, so as to meet emergencies, and which nevertheless may be used as a permanent sign when desired.

Another object is to provide a sign with which a wide variety of indications may be given at will to the public.

Another object is to provide a sign which, whilst being reasonably portable, will nevertheless function adequately under the severest weather conditions.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a road sign constructed in accordance with the invention,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the sign illustrated in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view of the sign, whilst Figures 4 and 5 are detail views of two locking arrangements for the sign.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention the box part In of the sign comprises a rectangular box-like container for a hurricane lamp H. The lid 12 of the box Ill is not hinged to the body but is formed along one longitudinal edge within a depending inwardly curved flange l3 which may be hooked on to a correspondingly outwardly curved beading 14 on the back longitudinal upper edge of the container, The front edge of the lid is provided with slidable bolts I5 adapted to engage corresponding sockets It on the front of the container. The lid is also formed with a central longitudinal slot I! through which the handle l8 of the hurricane or other lamp l l mayprotrude. Thus when the lamp is in the container and the lid secured, the box and lamp may be carried together by the handle l8 of the lamp which sticks out of the top of the container through the slot I! in the lid.

The front and back sides of the container are formed with rectangular apertures around the edges of which, on the inside of the box, are disposed slides l9 to receive sign plates covering 2 the apertures. The sign plates 2|] are removably held in the slides l9 and are stencilled with appropriate indications, such as the words Stop, Go, Danger, etc, which indications are illuminated from within the box it].

The floor of the box is formed with an aperture to allow the ingress of air to feed the lamp, and for the same purpose is formed with a slightly raised platform 2! upon which the lamp l'l stands.

At the four corners of the floor of the box are holes through which pass screws 22 upstanding from a flat wooden stand 23 for the box Hi. When the box [0 has been mounted upon its stand 23 fly nuts 24 are tightened up on the four screws to secure the box to the stand.

The wooden stand 23 is mounted, it may be rotatably as shown in Figure 2, upon a cylindrical pillar 25 itself secured to a relatively heavy concrete circular base or foot 26.

The base 26 is preferably cast and is in the form of a centrally apertured concavo-convex disc with the convex face uppermost. The pillar 25 carries a flange 21 against the upper convex face of the base 26 and the lower threaded end 23 of the pillar passes through the aperture in the base to be secured by a nut 29 housed, clear of the ground, in the concave space on the underside of the base.

Rubber-like or fibrous washers 30 and 3! may be disposed between the concrete base and the nut and flange respectively.

The concrete base is formed, at diametrically opposite positions at its edge, with two depressions 32 each bridged by a metal hande 33. The depressions are streamlined and sloped to allow water and dust to run off whilst the fact that the handles are sunk in depressions ensures that there are no protuberances to catch in the feet or interfere with the rolling of the sign from place to place upon the circular base.

Where the stand 23 is rotatably mounted upon its pillar 25 the words Stop and Go may be placed on the front and back of the sign III which may then be reversed either mechanically, electrically or by hand.

The fact that the box I 0 is removably mounted upon the stand 23 enables the box to be used apart from the stand when desired.

If desired, a locking bolt 34 may be passed through slots 35 and 36 in the container and lid,

a padlock 37 being locked into a hole in the bolt. This arrangement locks the lamp in the box and also prevents access to the wing nuts inside the 7 box which secure the latter to its stand, so that the whole assembly is locked together.

The box I0 may be of rectangular, triangula or circular horizontal cross section. V

I claim: 7

A movable and transportable road sign, including a, base, a stand mounted on the base, an apertured box mounted on the stand, an apertured lid on the box, a translucent sign mounted over the aperture inthe box, and a hurricane lamp within the box having its handle passing through the aperture in the lid.

THOMAS HERBERT RIDLEY EMMERSQN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record. in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

